Sydney

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Manly Ferry Ride through Sydney Harbor

G’day!

Bottom line: Sydney is awesome! I really like Melbourne, but would move to Sydney in a heartbeat. I have said that although I am having a blast in Australia, I don’t think I could ever live somewhere outside the U.S. permanently—Sydney may be the exception. It is the largest city in Australia (population 4.2 million) and is absolutely beautiful. It is surrounded by water (Sydney Harbor) and has a fantastic nightlife—tons of bars/pubs/restaurants/night clubs all within a few blocks.

I toured the Sydney Aquarium and watched a shark feeding as well as a Great Barrier Reef feeding. Sydney folks claim that the Aquarium is the best in the world. It is the best aquarium that I have visited (slightly edging Shedd Aquarium in Chicago), but I don’t know if it is the best in the world. Shedd is much larger, but the aquatic life in Sydney was amazing (I spent about an hour at the shark exhibit—awesome).

Seeing the Sydney Opera House was really cool. The Opera House is located right on the harbor and offers a full view of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. As I was taking pictures, I thought to myself, “I really did not think that I would ever see this with my own eyes.” The structure, location and size made me a little awestruck. It is really a very impressive building.

The Sydney Harbor Bridge connects Sydney with North Sydney and is a large tourist attraction. Tourists can participate in the “Bridge Climb,” where they are harnessed to metal wires that span the arc of the bridge and can walk along the top of the bridge to cross the harbor. Crazy. As much as I love heights (absolutely terrified) I decided not to participate in the Climb. Instead, I walked the length of the bridge to North Sydney to take photos of Sydney and the Opera House.

I got my surf on again at Bondi Beach—most famous beach in Sydney (and also a topless beach…). The beach had beautiful white sand and really clear water; however, it was a very low tide day, so the waves were few and far between. A Frenchman paddled by me and asked, “Is this an ocean or a lake; where are the waves?” I did catch the biggest wave of my life (sweet) and then immediately followed it up on the next wave with an unbelievable wipeout (salt water entered all of my orifices while the board came crashing down on my head—not sweet).

Great city and great trip; I would most definitely return to Sydney.

I have less than two weeks left in Australia and then I am off to Christchurch, New Zealand (Feb. 17th). Crazy how fast time flies……

Andy

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Photos

Seahorse
Fun fact: The male seahorse carries the baby.

Tunnel View of Nurse Shark
The glass distorts and shrinks the image by 25%, thus all of these huge sharks are actually 25% larger than they appear in these photos.

Darling Harbor
Location of the Sydney Aquarium and the world's largest IMAX theater.

Me and the Sydney Harbor Bridge
If you look closely, you can see people walking along the top of the Bridge during the "Bridge Climb".

Comments

[Laura]

Way cool. Cannot belive your time in Australia is almost over....

[Rusty]

I like that when I read your blog I actually learn things about Austrailia. I can't believe you are almost headed to NZ. Take care bud.